New blood donation centre – 500 donors expected each week at Gatineau

Gatineau, April 21, 2016 – Just days after the opening of the PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge and the GLOBULE Blood Donor Centre in Gatineau, Héma-Québec is launching a recruitment call for donors.

This is the second PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge to include a GLOBULE blood donation area in Québec. PLASMAVIE was created to enable Héma-Québec to increase its plasma self-sufficiency and, in turn, reduce its sourcing of this product abroad. PLASMAVIE specializes in collecting plasma for use in manufacturing medications, using the apheresis technique that collects only the desired blood components. In the GLOBULE blood donation area, donors will be able to make traditional blood donations.

The new centre is looking for new donors in Gatineau and the surrounding area. Héma-Québec invites everyone who has ever thought of donating blood but not acted on this yet or any blood donor who wishes to experience donating plasma to do so now. Those interested should indicate their intention to donate or learn more about plasma donation by calling the toll-free number 1-800-343-SANG (7264).

This PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge is conveniently located near shopping centres and big box stores, making it easy to combine a shopping trip or visit to Gatineau with a plasma donation. The Gatineau PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge, located at 205 Bellehumeur Street, is the result of an investment of $3 million and employs a staff of 25 to collect 500 donations a week.

The annual goal of 25,000 donations in the Gatineau facility is vital to ensure that patients receive the life-saving components needed for a transfusion or medications manufactured from the plasma collected. The needs are great. Héma-Québec must collect more than 200,000 litres of plasma each year between now and 2020 to meet these needs. Héma-Québec currently collects 45,000 litres.

About Héma-Québec

Héma-Québec’s mission is to efficiently meet the needs of the Québec population for safe, optimal-quality blood and blood products, human tissues, cord blood, mother’s milk and cellular products; and to develop and provide expertise and specialized, innovative services in the field of human biological products. Héma-Québec encompasses 1,300 employees, over 300,000 donor visits to blood drives per year, 16,000 volunteers and more than 500,000 blood products delivered annually to Québec hospitals to meet the needs of patients.